Tag Archives: buddha

Our world is simply a reflection of how we view it and the thoughts and actions we put into it. Our experience in life mirrors our context of it. Like a poet, do we see beauty and love in every moment and interaction? Or like a child, do we feel and see wonder in everything in life? Or have we become cynical and resigned in our lives and our world mirrors back our context of it? One of the greatest spiritual lessons we can learn in this life is that we alone are accountable for our lives, that there is nowhere else to point our fingers. And if we understand that we alone are accountable, then we realize that we alone create our world. These two lessons are very hard to comprehend and own. It is much easier to push blame elsewhere for the pain in our lives. It is easier to see what is wrong than having to take ownership in having to look deeper both within ourselves and within others to find beauty and grace.

Yet, this is the mirror we live in. If you want happiness then be happy and reflect happiness everywhere in your life, not just in moments of joy but finding joy and laughter even when life is challenging. And then ultimately, finding someone to love and give happiness to. Herein lies another great spiritual lesson in that this life is not about you. You’re in this body connected to all living beings and thus another beings pain is your pain. When you give to another it is as if you are giving to yourself. If you are unhappy, and are looking for connection and love then give connection and love. In turn, you will receive connection and love. Let go of the attachments of the way life should be and be the light that you want the world to be. This is the mirror, we shine our light as a beacon for the world to see and emulate. Our light inspires and reflects far from our immediate surrounding. Human beings are thirsty for peace, joy and love. Look within and find peace, and create a context of this world that is filled with joy and love, and then give this to others unconditionally. This will light the flame in others who have been in perpetual darkness. As the light within you grows the barriers that you have been holding to love will dissipate and you will radiate as a divine being. Others will see this beacon and they will gravitate to you, they will want this energy you are giving. They will want this connection.

Be the light and reflect this brightly for all to see. Be accountable for your life, create an empowering context filled with peace and love and shine. You are light, you are divine SHINE.

We’re born, and we die, turning to dust. All we leave are our footprints. Every moment in our life is a footprint. Let’s get present to the footprints we’re leaving on this journey. We love, we inspire, and we unite. Long after our physical body is gone, the echoes of our footprints remain. – Thomas D. Craig – Conquer Thyself: Change Yourself Change the World (April 2018 release date)

Our lives in this body go by in a flash of time in the universe. As human beings we churn many cycles in our mind on superficial things such as getting ahead, the car we drive, or job we have. Our mind gravitates to the ego and this physical body, yet life is not about these things. At some point, perhaps on your last breath you will understand that you cannot take things with you on your spiritual journey. At some point you will realize that life was about the experiences that you had in each present moment, that life was about each step, each footprint along your journey.

In order to live an impactful, intentional life we must create with the end in mind. We must look to the end and write our story. Perhaps you are familiar with the exercise in writing your own eulogy and imagining what people will say after you pass in this body. To create this reality we must write these words down in the life that we are creating and the accomplishments we want in this body, and then we must create actions consistent with our plan to get us to this goal. We create and start with the end to point us in the direction on our journey. Like a map, yet the map is never the territory, it is simply a direction for us to point us along our journey. Once we know where we want to go we step one step at a time. Each step is our journey and it is always in a moment of NOW. Just as stepping into a river is never the same river twice, so is life, both are always changing, always new in each step that we take. Every moment is fresh and new and an opportunity for us to live fully and present in each step of our journey.

We must get present to the end and the direction that we want to take on our spiritual evolution. We must get present that each moment is fresh and new and that each moment and interaction could be our last with the world around us. It could be our last or the living being we are present with. Life is precious and changes suddenly, it should never be taken for granted. Life is contained in these singular moments that we experience in every step. Imagine that these words, these actions that you have with the living beings around you could be the last that you have with them. If you lived in this manner, how would you act? What words would you say? Would you focus on trivial matters or would you focus on being present and being love?

Understand that our lives are a series of footprints, what tracks do you want to leave for humanity? How do you want to be remembered in every interaction that you have? Are you pulling up humanity? What is the experience that people have with you? How do you make them feel? The experiences, the footprints that you leave will be left long after you say your goodbyes, or you expire.

Brothers and sisters, get present to the moment of NOW. Get present to the footprints that you leave in life. Get present to how you make people feel when you are with them, how you impact the world around you. Remember that each moment in your life is a footprint, step wisely and with your heart filled with compassion and love.

Our attachment comes in the form of not accepting and being present to the reality of our life in each moment. We are attached to having our life be different. We yearn for times of the past, or hope for moments in the future, yet we miss the beauty in each moment of NOW.

Yet life challenges us. It beats us down and confronts us and we look to the sky and shout “why me?”

This is the EGO speaking. This is the EGO, or SELF attached to the concept that our lives should look different for the individual SELF. The suffering comes from thinking that we are separate from the whole. Let’s look further at what this means.

We are not this body that we carry around with us, it is simply luggage carrying our vibrant, divine energy in this lifetime. A placeholder along the path. Yet, we live are lives with a finality for this body and this lifetime. You can see it how we treat the environment, or other people and living beings. Our context, our view of our life comes from a ME centric standpoint in how can we better ourselves and our immediate world. In this context, we miss the connection with all living beings through this Universe and the next. We miss that we are just passing through in this physical body and that nothing is permanent. We are attached to the game of this physical, superficial world. When we do this we do not flow with life. We hold on and grasp to how things should be. We scream “why me?” or oppress others all to benefit our physical self in a lifetime that is simply a blip, a blink from the divine. Our attachment stagnates our growth and keeps us from flowing with life.

When thinking of the concept of flowing, think of a river with the water passing by. The water does not oppose a log in the river, nor the curve in the bank; it passes by indifferent. Every moment in a river is a moment of now, the water flows by and each moment is a snapshot of a moment of NOW, each moment new. If we were to step in a river we have connected in this particular moment, a bridge in time between our relativity of time and the river. Yet, each time we step in the river it is a new river. This is life. It is not static, nor can we control it. We come across our own rocks, and logs and bends in our life, and life flows past, every moment is new. Trying to stop the flow of life is like trying to stop the flow of the river or time itself, an exercise in futility and suffering. Resisting the flow of life is attachment and it is suffering. We cannot find peace and love within ourselves until we understand acceptance, until we understand letting go and flowing with life.

Flowing with life is with all moments. I refrain from calling them good and bad moments as they are just moments. We may be wealthy one day and poor the next. We may have our family one moment and the next they are gone. Grasping at what was, and resisting the flow imprisons us to the physical realm of this body, and an EGO centric world. This is true for times that are difficult but also when we are pleased with our life. Often we want to cling to this time, to these moments and hold on with a death grip even though the life flows past us.

There is no peace in the world of attachment, it’s short sided and creates a world of “not enough”. In the world of not enough we are always searching, always looking for more ways to satisfy the EGO in our minds – more money, more superficial things, more gain for the personal self. The world of not enough is an endless pit where we never find the treasure. The EGO can never be satisfied, it is only in removing the EGO and the illusion of the individual SELF that we find our universal connection with all living beings. In this unity we find the value of all life, where one life is not prioritized nor more important than the next. In this universal connection the concept of “why me?” does not exist as we are connected to the whole. Events in our life just as in the life of all living beings just happen, there are no directed lightening bolts thrown our way. There is simply a what’s so with all life. Reacting or trying to change it is not going to make a difference as it simply is what’s so in our life at that particular moment. Accepting life’s events as they come to you, positive or negative is flowing with life.

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Maybe,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer.

Positive or negative the farmer flowed with life. He stayed in the moment of NOW, he refused to cling or attach himself to events in this life.

This can me challenging as the mind wants to keep us in the world of ME or the EGO. It wants to question why things might be difficult, or why the illusion in why the Universe conspired against only ourselves. I personally have lost jobs, been divorced, lost all of my superficial wealth, been given days notice on the end of a job and become homeless, loved ones with life threatening illnesses, or dying without warning. Yet, as my mind wants to wallow in pity and suffering I understand that this is life and we all go through it with our own challenges. Who are we to judge? Everyone carries pain with them it is what we choose do with this pain. Do we let it go and accept it exactly the way that it is? Or do we hold onto to it and hope for something different. Whenever something challenging in my life happens I simply say “Is that so?” These three words are my salvation from clinging to the way I wish things would be in my life. These words are my art of flowing with life.

These words come from a Zen story titled the same name : Is that so?

It is a story of a well respected Zen master by the name of Hakuin who lived in a small village in Japan. One day a young girl in the village became pregnant and her incensed father insisted she name the father of the child. She named Hakuin as the father and as word spread he lost his reputation. As Hakuin heard the news he simply responded “Is that so?”

When the child was born the girls parents brought the child to Hakuin to take care of him. Hakuin took in the child to raise and simply said “Is that so?” After a year of taking care of the child the mother finally confessed the truth of who the real father was of the child. Her parents came to Hakuin and confessed that they knew he was not the father and took the child back to raise. Hakuin simply said “Is that so?”

Peace and happiness come from flowing with life. Many challenging and horrible things happen to people. Yet these events do not define us, we choose life in every moment. Each moment a step into the river, fresh and new, the past washed away bring a new moment of NOW. A life that flows unattached without resistance, in peace and harmony.

“We build too many walls and not enough bridges.”

Sir Isaac Newton

Stand for what you are fornot what you are against. Build bridges not walls. Mother Teresa once said she would never go to an anti-war rally, but to invite her if you were to hold a peace rally. This statement may seem trivial but the depth of this statement is profound. We are our thoughts, what we think we become. Our thoughts become actions, in this we create our world. What we seek is seeking us. The focus, the fight needs to shift to what we want to create versus what we oppose.

Human beings take action based on fear. We fight against things that we oppose. Our mind ignites this opposition against that which is different than our self, be it religion, or race, or culture, or sex. This mindset is an inflated version of our EGO standing only with others that have similar ideologies or physical make up. Our minds fight for this thought that our path is the right path, and we are different but justified in our exclusion. This way of thinking misses the universal connection of all living beings. It misses love as the source of our being and that all living beings are on the same journey. Fighting that which we oppose by building walls and using violence and bombs is the easy and ordinary path. It is the path that feeds anger and greed. It feeds vengeance and power. It feeds the voice you were unjust to me therefore I will be unjust to you. This path is a reaction to thoughts, feelings and emotions abstract from our source which is unity and love. This path of US vs THEM is not a spiritually evolved or connected path.

History is littered with examples of oppression and exclusion. Our minds create an US vs. THEM mentality, an illusion that is at the root of war, of castes, and oppression. There is no US vs. THEM, we are all brothers and sisters. There are no borders, or races or sexes. We are vibrating energy that is all connected. When we remove this illusion WALLS are pointless. In fact, walls and bombs are more than pointless they instigate, they inspire an equal opposing force as Sir Isaac Newton spelled out in his Law of Motion – for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. We speak in good faith that we want peace and harmony yet our actions are not consistent with this path. Our intentions and actions are that of violence and control, yet we are still surprised when violence comes back to us. Walls are built out of fear in an attempt to hold onto this illusion that we must protect the GOOD vs. EVIL. Those that are opposed become objects, dehumanized and easy to destroy. Bombs are dropped with the message of freedom yet the only remains are destruction and death.We become an eye for an eye society and as Mahatma Gandhi so eloquently stated “we all go blind.” The violence in the world today is simply the opposite and equal reactions of our existing actions in the world. Yet we continue on our path of using violence and to control. To control through fear and violence is a limited path that does not empower or inspire people. The oppressed eventually rise up in equal fashion to those that control. The path of opposition is an endless path of destruction and death. There is no end, only more control and violence. Fear is used to ignite this flame and money is poured into the stockpile of weapons and exclusion and again we are confounded when others do the same in opposition. Darkness does not eliminate darkness, only light as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us. It took extreme courage for Dr. King to follow a path of peace in the face of violent opposition. This was the light.

It is time to revisit this path of light and non violence. This path takes courage in the face all of the greatest fears in our minds. Yet, what greater fight is there than one of peace and love. Love is the greatest power on this earth, far greater than any bomb or wall. The seeds of love empower, and inspire the world forever changing the footprint that was left before they arrived. The power of love triumphs over fear, over control. The growth may be slow but it is permanent, far more permanent than some ideological wall that represents oppression and fear. Love is the honey that attracts, all living beings crave and want it. Mahatma Gandhi stood for a path of peace and love in the face of violence and control. Martin Luther King Jr. rallied for civil rights under the umbrella of love and peace. The path is of Mother Teresa in fighting for what we are FORnot against. This is spiritual evolution. This path will test our diligence to peace and love. It will push us to our limit, it will strive to take the love out of our hearts, to prod and anger us to join in the realm of chaos and destruction, the realm of anger and violence and death. We must stand for love in the face of the greatest tragedies, like the mother who forgave the man who killed her daughter, or like Gandhi willing to die for his faith in peace and of love. Let no one take away our choice for peace and love, this cannot be taken only given away by us. This is the courage we must have, we must build bridges of love in the midst of the storm. Yet, the more we build, the more we create the more that we inspire and the more that will join in our creation of love far distancing the control in the path of destruction on the alternate path.

We are defined by how we react in our darkest hour.

It is exactly in these moments that we must choose to build bridges and not walls. Every moment, every footprint is our choice. Always remove the barriers to fear and oppression and choose creation and love.

Our greatest misconception as a human being is our belief that we are not at the level of achieving whatever is possible. We establish barriers and elevate other individuals as more capable or at a higher level than ourselves. Our context of the world is one of looking up when we should be looking out, in unison with all living beings.

This was my context when I traveled to the Shaolin Temple in China. I had been reading about the discipline and the extraordinary powers of the Shaolin Monks for many years so when I actually set foot in the temple I was walking on air, like a child in awe of everyone and everything that I saw along the path. I had four goals in coming to the temple- experience Bodhidharma (Damo), fully explore the temple, climb and experience Mt Song, and finally to meditate and spend time with the Shaolin Monks. Less than a week into my trip I had met the first three of my goals. Now it was time to meditate with the monks.

The temple had set aside one night a week for International students to attend a meditation session with the monks. This was disappointing that it was only once a week but I understood. This was the monk’s practice, the core to what they had dedicated their lives to, and they took it serious. I imagined having tourists come in and disrupt a routine that had been defined over thousands of years was not an ideal situation for them. I was honored to have this opportunity. Mr. Wang who handled the International Student inquiries set up my meditation visit and also suggested I attend the daily morning chanting session at the temple. Done, I would do both.

My friend Erika, a Buddhist and Shaolin Kung Fu teacher out of the Netherlands gave me the details on the morning chanting session. She made a practice of attending this session most of the mornings. As a woman, she was not allowed to attend the weekly meditation practice with the monks. She was disheartened by this as she was allowed to attend this practice back home, but here at the source, at the Shaolin Temple they still held onto outdated cultural beliefs. This was confounding to me as the practice of Zen, of Buddhism at it’s root has no barriers, only love. Our root is love, a place with no race or sexual discrimination, no boundaries at all across cultures or people. In my mind, we meditate to remove any barriers that restrict us from love. Coming into the temple I had idolized the concept of a monk in my mind. In experiencing the temple this deification shifted. I initially would be in stunned silence as my expectation differed from my reality. This happened many times, from the exclusion of women, to the mistreatment of the children in the training of Kung Fu, to a monk killing a bee as it flew next to me, to the monks driving around in BMWs and using their smart phones. Again this was my context that I needed to shift, yet I will never forget seeing an old monk sitting with his fly swatter, waiting to smash his next victim. This was alien to me as I had read from Buddha’s text that all living beings are connected and we should honor every life. I set these feelings aside, and created the possibility of experiencing the journey without preconceptions. In order to attend the chanting and meditation sessions I needed something more than my traditional Kung Fu outfit. I bought the necessary long robe and set my alarm for 4 am so I could dress, and walk to the temple for the 5 am chanting session.

At 4:45 the next morning, I slipped in the side door to the temple and made my way to Mahavira Hall in the central area of the temple. The front doors to the hall were open and in entering I came into a magical scene. The hall was roughly 30 meters wide and 15-20 meters deep with high ceilings some 15-20 meters in the air. The back of the hall was lined with these enormous gold painted statues ranging from 3-8 meters high lit from below by hundreds of lit candles. There must have been 20 or more statues lining the hall looking down at me, creating an unworldly space. Interspersed throughout the hall were 5-6 huge red, ornately painted pillars on top of the stone floors that rose to the ceiling. At the base of these beautiful pillars were 2 meter high, carved metal dragons that stood guard to the room. The only lighting was the flicker of the candles across the divided room, spread out into two sections with 6-7 people placed into 5-6 rows on each side of a central aisle. The first 2-3 rows were washed in a sea of Crimson monk robes. As I learned quickly in China when you don’t know you follow. I took a spot in the back row following the rest of the guests until the ceremony began. The 40-50 of us in the room stood in silence until finally 2 small bells clanged followed by the rhythmic beating of a gong over and over again for a few minutes. This transitioned into a series of gongs, bells and drum beats, over and over again. Then the drum took over, a deep, bass beat pounding the flicker of the candles. Finally, one monk began chanting in a slow cadence, until the remaining monks followed in line. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, only the melodic cadence of their voices and the drum beat. Each progression of the chant would pick up in pace with the drum beat until it became a blur of words and sounds. I closed my eyes and drifted off in the vibration of this experience. Finally after about 30 minutes, the monks turned inward to the central aisle and with their hands in Namaste position, they walked in single file around the outside of the hall as they continued their chanting. One by one they filed out of their rows until my row joined in behind them. The line was so long that it almost formed one continuous circle around the outside edges inside the hall. Along the path were candles to light the way and more majestic statues towering above us. Occasionally along the path an older monk sat, too disabled to make the fast paced walk, yet still able to sit and belt out the chorus from their seats in concert with the beat. We circled the hall a few times and then filed back into our rows and finally about an hour into the session the monks finished the chanting, bowed multiple times on their knees with the rest of us joining and then we were quickly escorted out of the hall.

Outside the hall the sun was rising and the faint light touched the carved marble statues across the temple grounds. There were no tourists, no selfie sticks, and the grounds were silent. This was the most magical time I found at the temple. I walked the grounds alone, deep in reflection on the thousands of years of history in every footstep. Mist rose from the temple rooftops as the heat lifted the condensation. I walked past the Thousand-Bodhisattva Hall where the stone floor was engrossed in holes every 5 feet or so from thousands of years of Kung Fu practice. Stone divots left as monuments of self-discipline and persistence. I walked past stone statues and trees marked with hundreds of small holes from monks practicing finger strikes. The power of human will can overcome anything. I had my evidence, even stone was not a barrier. There was nothing that the mind could not conquer with will and persistence.

Finally my day came to meditate with the monks. I had heard the details from my friend Carlos, the Latvian Mountain Man. I was prepared in my long monk robe, and was told to just follow the rest of the monks in everything that they do. Carlos told me that the beginning of the session was a brisk walking session followed by tea and then meditation. We walked down early to the temple as this was not an event you wanted to be late for. One thing I learned with my time at the temple, the monks were never late, if they said they were starting at 5:30, they started at 5:30. We made our way into the temple as usual but this time we made a right turn into the restricted section where the monks lived and practiced. Similar to our Kung Fu training center this was not an area that was open to tourists. The stone path weaved through dorm like living quarters emptying into a dark hallway inside of a building. Carlos signaled to walk to the right and we made our way to a long hallway filled with a table filled with snacks like bananas, and nuts to keep the monks fueled throughout the day during breaks in their meditation practice. Behind us was a doorway that led outside with a small courtyard and grass. Across the grass was a long clothes line where a few, brown robes were drying in the wind. A single monk in his brown robe and yellow sash was walking the courtyard back and forth while he talked on the phone. Carlos and I stood erect and at attention outside the entrance to the meditation hall. The entrance was a long green drape with insignia on it that I couldn’t decipher held in place by a thin wood plank across the top, stretched by a rope from the ceiling used to close and to lift the drape at the appropriate time outward so traffic could come in and out at ease like the covering of a tent.

Finally, just before our scheduled start at 5:30 the drape opened and 3-4 monks came out. It was clear they had just finished a meditation session and were focused on moving to the next one. I imagined they did this routine every day, a series of meditation sessions broken up by snack and meal breaks. One of the monks pointed at us to hurry and enter the room. I immediately went to the right to enter and was hushed in a polite “NO” from the monk. He pointed to the other side and directed me to enter from the left. Protocol was important here. This practice had been in place for thousands of years and they had a specific way of doing things. In entering the room, my eyes took it all in. The room was about 10-15 meters deep, and about 15-20 meters long. On the outside of the stone floor were raised seats along the edge of the room with cushions every few feet for individuals to sit and meditate. The seats were open underneath, I imagined to place removed shoes. In the center to the back was an ornate seat, secluded seat clearly reserved for a monk of importance. The rest of the hall was open except for a large statue of Buddha about 2 meters high encased in glass positioned directly in the center of the hall. Like a moth to light I was drawn to the Buddha, transfixed in the reverence of the moment.

I broke out of my trance as a monk dashed past me. I noticed the 30-40 monks in the room were quickly circling the Buddha statue in a brisk clockwise pace. The quickest were in the first lane moving around the statue like sports cars, the next quickest were in the second lane, followed by some older monks circling in the third lane. I chose the middle lane targeting a monk in front of me determined not to lose pace with him. As we sped walked around Buddha, a tiny monk holding up a 2 meter stick alked around the outside of the rectangle of the inner hall. Every half lap to a lap, he would tap the floor 2-3 times and our pace would quicken. It was clear he was our tempo master. The moment became overwhelming as we began to circle faster and faster almost like a whirlpool where if you looked up, or moved slightly wrong the energy pulled you out of the tight circle you were in. The monks picked up the pace to where they were slightly running, whipping the long sleeves on their robes in each step like the crack of a whip. I was having trouble keeping up, it was like being on the edge of a tight turn trying to hold the rail. Our circles were tight, almost shoulder to shoulder with each other in our silent speed walk. Again and again the stick hit the floor and we picked up our pace, now we were running laps around Buddha in our long robes. I looked to my right noticed I was being passed by a monk who must have been in his 70’s with his shaved head and long beard. We circled over and over again for close to 30 minutes until a gong rang outside the hall.

Immediately the monks stopped and Carlos and I followed suit. One of the monks came to us and pointed to a couple of seats for us to sit. Every few feet a monk sat erect with their feet on the floor and hands on their knees. I mimicked to the best of my ability and then noticed the smaller monk with the stick was now passing out tea cups. I watched the monk next to me as there was a very specific way he received the cup and then held it. He reached out with his right hand, took the cup with his thumb on bottom and his forefinger on the top edge, then he took the cup in both hands into his lap. I followed his lead. Finally another monk came by with a huge pot of tea. I watched my counterpart lift his cup with his right hand, again with the thumb and forefinger, received the tea, and then brought both hands near his mouth, and kept the cup there, never lowered, until he quickly drank the tea. Again I followed suit. However, the first thing I noticed was how hot this tea was. I mean scalding hot. I mean, I wanted to scream it was that hot. It was clear why they held the cup on the top and bottom to diffuse the heat, yet these monks were jugging down this tea gulp after gulp. I had to follow suit. I sucked in slowly trying to diffuse the heat but it was no use, I was going to burn my mouth and that was just what was going to happen. I looked to my right and the monk was already finished with his tea. I gave myself an inner pep talk and sucked down the tea until finally I was finished. Yes!!! I was so relieved. Then I noticed the tea guy going for round two….NO! The monk next to me stuck his cup out for round two and I felt obliged to follow his lead. (It wasn’t until my second time meditating with the monks I noticed one of them politely refuse the second trip with this hand which I gladly followed). I received my second cup and again mentally blocked out my scalding mouth and finished my tea. Whew….I made it. Next I noticed the monk next to me take his now empty cup and place it on the stone floor in front of him with his right hand. I watched and mimicked. However, the monk nodded in my direction in a mix of Chinese and an English ‘No’, he pointed to move the cup to the next line on the floor which I did. The small monk now came around and picked up each cup in near silence by squatting to the floor with a straight back and picking up each cup within each other until he made the full circle around the hall. Another gong and we were back on our feet, racing the circle around Buddha again. My mouth burned and my throat gurgled from drinking that tea so fast. We did our silent race around Buddha for another 5 minutes or so until another gong had the group stop in their tracks and all head for the door. I wasn’t expecting this. A few monks ushered Carlos and I out of the room and pointed to follow the rest of the mob. I looked at Carlos and he shrugged, we didn’t know what was going on.

We exited through the green drape and headed out into the courtyard following the line of monks who entered another room. I hurried after them and as I entered the room, I stopped in my tracks and tried not to laugh out loud. A row of monks were standing over individual holes in the ground, with each having pulled their robes to the side with one hand and urinating with the other. We were on a speed rest room break. I will never forget the site of the back of the bald monk heads, with the brown, maroon and gray robes pulled to the side hurrying to urinate prior to meditation. I passed on joining them and waited outside wondering if I had made a bad move as I knew we were going to sit for quite a while.

Next, the monks filed out of the urinal and they ushered us back into the hall where one of them pointed to a few seats on the back wall for Carlos and I to sit. There was a hierarchy in the sitting structure for meditation. On the wall closest to the entrance sat what looked like the most experienced or honored monks. The color of their robes followed suit with this. Brown and Maroon were an elevated color whereas gray and blue seemed to be junior, or in training colors. I was told this was also in relationship to the level of vows they had committed to as monks. Either way, I was on the back row next to some gray and blue robe monks. This was perfect for me. We took our seats, removed our shoes and set them underneath us. There were various cushions to sit on and place on your back and underneath your knees if needed. Upon crossing their legs to sit, I noticed each monk ensured their robe covered their feet and legs. Again I mimicked the action. Then I noticed across the room that the monks had already shut their eyes and were in full meditation mode. I began to follow suit when I noticed one monk walking around inspecting the crew with a wooden sword on his shoulder. I had heard about this. A monk occasionally walked around the hall during meditation to inspect and ensure everyone was awake. If he saw a problem he tapped you on your shoulder to shape up. My entire goal was not to get the wooden sword. I closed my eyes and felt at home. My daily routine was to meditate 2 hours a day so I wasn’t worried about this part, I was ready to sit and be in the presence of this energy. The first 15-20 minutes went great, I relaxed and began my breathing, slow and easy. The room was silent, completely silent. I could barely hear a breath. Then, the scalding tea struck again. My throat began to gurgle. You know the type, the gurgling noise you cannot control and leads to unnecessary swallowing followed by the urge to burp. Yes, this was now my reality with the Shaolin Monks. So much for meditating as now my entire thought was on controlling my swallowing which now seemed so loud that the entire room could hear. I was waiting for the wooden sword to smack me on the shoulder but it never came. Over and over I suppressed my urge to swallow and then burp. I began to curse that tea in my mind. Why was it so hot? Why? Yes, I was out of any construct of Zen and then I heard the sound that equated us all. It was faint at first and a complete surprise. I had been struggling to elevate myself to the level of a monk and with one sound I realized we were all equal. “Burp”…..loudly came from a monk across the room and then another “burp” from a different location. Yes….the monks were human, they were no different than I was. The sound of a monk burping was like a flash of Zen enlightenment. I stopped trying to be something different and relaxed. I didn’t need to impress anyone, we were all one, and there were no spiritual levels.

From here I relaxed and took in the moment. I breathed. The energy was palpable, it was vivid, alive and intense. This moment was beautiful. I took it all in, breath after breath. Over an hour into our meditation session, I heard Carlos next to me start to struggle. If you have ever meditated for any length of time, you understand that it takes some time for your body to get used to the experience. Carlos was clearly struggling. His legs began to get heavy as he wrapped his arms around his legs in one deep hug to end the ache and to keep them elevated. I could feel his pain in every one of his movements. Every few moments he would shift and change his breathing. I wasn’t sure if he would make it. Finally the wooden sword monk walked around again one last time and a few minutes later a loud gong rang outside of the complex. We made it, no wooden sword for us. (I learned later my friend Asbjorn, the Viking Monk, was tapped twice during the session for breathing too loud- I still laugh thinking about the bald, red bearded Norwegian getting tapped for breathing too loud).

Immediately after the gong the monks opened their eyes, put on their shoes and walked out of the meditation hall. They looked over at Carlos and I and waved for us to quickly leave the room. I slapped on my shoes and followed them out of the room, but heard a slight groan from Carlos who wasn’t doing so well. I decided to stand outside of the room and wait for him. One by one the monks rushed past me and out of the hallway. A few of them kept waving for me to follow. I didn’t know what to do, I tried to communicate in English but this wasn’t working. I kept pointing to the inside of the hall, saying ‘my friend is in there still’. They didn’t understand, they only said ‘NO’….and kept waving me along. It was clear they didn’t understand and they didn’t want me there. I didn’t know what to do as I wanted to wait for Carlos AND I didn’t know how to get out of this area of the temple. I had followed Carlos here and was unsure how to get out of this maze we were in. I followed them down the hallway, and realized they were inviting me to eat with them. Wow…what an honor, yet I wanted to make sure Carlos had this opportunity as well. I kept trying to go back to the hall and they kept saying politely ‘NO’. In this I kept pointing toward the meditation hall and kept repeating …’friend’. Finally, out of the green drape came Carlos like a Latvian Frankenstein. His legs were asleep and he was in pain. He tried to walk but he looked like a monk zombie. I waved him forward saying they were inviting us to dinner. He walked the best he could in his stiff legs until we got to the monk dining quarters.

Upon entering they handed us a bowl and pointed to the big pot of food. The room was filled with rows of thin tables, with a chair every few feet. It almost looked like a school cafeteria where hundreds of people could sit and eat. There was a routine here though as most of the seats were reserved for a particular monk. They all had their individual bowls and their chopsticks that they used over and over again to go along with their particular seat. A monk pointed at us to grab the food and to sit at an open spot on the edges of the room. I made my way up to the huge pot of food that had been wheeled into the room. There was a ladle to scoop the vegetarian noodle soup into my bowl where I put in an ample amount. I didn’t want to take too much, nor did I explore the condiment section of spices next to the soup. I wanted to be as discreet as possible. The food was delicious, a rich vegetarian broth, with noodles and vegetables and a surprise pickle or two in the meal. Across the room the monks ate in silence, not a word. I caught the eye of a few of them and they smiled. These are the moments that have me explore and seek places and cultures across the world. A moment in silence with a shared smile. A beautiful meal and a transcendent moment. We finished our food and walked into the kitchen, washed our bowls and chopsticks and bowed goodbye to the monks.

Our ¼ mile walk home was slow and painful for Carlos. His legs would not wake up, he was in pain. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I heard him curse in English with his thick Latvian accent. I slept easy that night at one with my breath and the Shaolin monks forever linked by a smile and a burp.

I’ve wanted to go to the Shaolin Temple for as long as I can remember.

Thomas Craig in monk robe

I can initially point to David Carradine and his character Kwai Chang Caine in the epic TV series Kung Fu for this. Kwai Chang Caine was a monk from the Shaolin Temple who wandered the old west of America, seeking each day like a child, unbiased and with love, yet protecting those around him who could not protect themselves with grace and power in his Kung Fu. His bald head and branded arms of a tiger and a dragon are still seared in my mind. For a young kid from a small, mill town in America the world created by Kwai Chang Caine couldn’t have been more different. I wanted to learn more.

After I graduated from college it seemed like the East was calling me. Every book I seemed to pick up at the bookstore was filled with thoughts from the east- from martial arts, to Buddhism, to Taoism, to meditation and stories and maps of places and people across Asia. My protestant, American upbringing was becoming a distant memory. A new path was calling me.

Yet, Shaolin was still a distant thing, a someday bucket list. As I learned more about Zen Buddhism and martial arts I learned the Shaolin Temple was the birthplace of both my desire to visit the temple amplified. I learned that a monk from India by the name of Bodhidharma traveled to China in roughly 480 A.D. and settled in the Henan province of China just outside of the Shaolin Temple. Upon arriving he found a cave on a mountain and meditated for 9 straight years. It is said that his shadow became encased into the rock walls of the cave after so many years of sitting and that in frustration in his falling asleep while meditating he cut off his eyelids in dedication. Upon finding enlightenment Bodhidharma (called Damo in China) taught at the temple. He is credited with the formation of the Zen (called Chan in China) style of Buddhism and the formation of modern-day martial arts. Monks began exercising to increase their internal energy flow in Qigong and this lead to additional moves for self-defense. This man Damo became the root for Zen and all martial arts as you know them today. Yes, this was a bucket list.

Shaolin moved from bucket list to one of consciousness for me when my writer friend Red Pine (Bill Porter) said to me in an email “Thomas when you go to Shaolin I will connect you with the Abbott.” It wasn’t said as a what if, it was said as this was inevitable and would happen soon. It was said with intent as in, what was I waiting for. Like so many things in life we create reasons in why not to do something versus creating actions in actually doing these things. On this day Shaolin became a different context to me. It moved from a someday into an inevitable that needed an action plan.

I did some research and found the Temple offered a training, education and accommodation package for roughly $300 a week in American dollars. The promise of Kung Fu training, calligraphy, learning Chinese, massage and even bone setting was too much. I signed up and booked my ticket for two weeks.

The Shaolin Temple is located in central China roughly 395 miles southwest of Beijing near a small town (for China) called Dengfeng. This was a LONG way from Seattle Washington in America. Four planes, an overnight layover and 37 hours later I was on the ground in Zhengzhou awaiting my hour drive to the temple. I had traveled to many countries in the past, yet this was my first solo trip to a foreign country. There was a certain excitement in entering a country where you didn’t not speak the language, or know the customs or lifestyle of the people. It was as if I was a child and everything was new again. It seemed okay to not know everything and to ask questions, every little thing was fascinating from the dress of the people, to the food, to even the street signs. I took this on completely and sat in wonder, the mind of a seeker, the mind of a child. I took in the music in the car, the chaotic and craziness of the Chinese drivers where the driving laws and lanes were only suggestions. I took in the scenery and became entranced as the mountains grew around me. Mountains have always represented spiritual journeys throughout history, from Moses to Greek and Hindu Gods living at the summit of sacred peaks. Mountains represented one’s spirit climbing to overcome worldly matters to find the inner self. As the mountains rose around me I knew I was in the right place.

The Shaolin Temple is located at the base of Mt Song (Songshan) one of the 5 sacred mountains in China. Its history is over 2000 years old and the powers of the monks are legendary. As the complex came into view I was filled with excitement and tension in what was next for me. My driver, Levi, was the assistant to the International Relations Director at the temple Mr. Wang (pronounced Mr. Wong), and he immediately led me into the temple to sign some papers. I drug my oversized duffle behind me, dogging tourists as we made our way to the side security gate off the temple. Here I dropped my bag off with 3 monks acting as security for the entrance entombed in a small, stone room with a single bed and a toilet on the floor. They were all smiles, pure and simple in their monk robes and bald heads. Levi kept ploughing ahead clearly wanting to end this chore in his schedule. We passed a small, old man covered with dirt and soot managing the coal and fires from the back of some side chimneys in the temple. We passed through a mob of tourists with their selfie sticks and tour groups and made our way into Mr. Wangs office. The office was part of the main temple complex, dark, old and rich in history. There were old pictures on the wall of Vladimir Putin and the Abbott of the temple, an image they are clearly proud of, like a stamp of approval to the world as I saw it frequently during my visit. Across the room was a brightly painted gold statue of Damo. The interior was simple with a couch to the left and a small table for drinking tea with guests and a few desks for Mr. Wang and Levi to attend to all the International affairs of the temple. Mr. Wang rose and greeted me with a handshake. He was a shorter man with large bushy, dark eyebrows and seemed to be in his mid-forties. He spoke good English and got right to the point about signing papers and told me to report to his office at 8:30 the next morning to meet the teacher.

From here I was shuttled off the temple up the road to a small village that housed the International students some 400-500 meters away from the temple. From the outside the building looked run down and cluttered with junk around the property. At first sight this was disturbing but when I looked around there was junk and litter everywhere. This became a theme on my trip in China, even in the most sacred places I was surrounded by garbage. One of the first English phrases I heard when I got to China came to mind, “welcome to China.” This became the mantra of the trip and a reminder to not be surprised in what we were experiencing.

The woman who took care of the International Hostel beamed in her smile and she showed me to my room where I met Kong (pronounced Gong), a young student from Thailand staying for a month training at the temple. He was ridiculous fit and resembled a young Bruce Lee so I went on to call him Bruce for the remainder of the trip. The hostel housed about 35 students from around the close. When I first arrived there were only 11 but soon filled with capacity from all over the globe, I counted 14-15 different countries from Taiwan, to Norway, Latvia, Germany, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, along with a large contingent from France and the western part of Africa. Some of them had been there for 2-3 years living and training with the monks. I was the only American on site at the time and graciously they all spoke English as a second language and this became the universal way of speaking around the complex. Soon after my arrival another younger guy named Asbjorn arrived from Norway. He had a thick head of red hair and a huge, curly Viking like beard. He immediately shaved his head and from this moment I called him the Viking monk. Last to fill our four person room out we added Jay from Australia. He was also in the IT industry and was a little older than the others in his mid-thirties so we hit it off immediately.

My first question to the group was “what’s the schedule?” I was expecting a detailed schedule of learning all day. First there was one laugh and then more and they all said, “yeah, we saw the website too and expected a full day of training.” Turned out the only training each day was a morning and afternoon session of Kung Fu training for a total of 5 hours. My initial reaction was of being angry. I trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I really didn’t care if I trained in Kung Fu at all; I was here to experience Damo, to experience the historical and spiritual significance of the Shaolin Temple.

I let this go. This trip was about the journey not the destination and in this I was here to experience every moment that was brought my way. This was how I would take on the trip, with the eyes of a child, with the essence of wonder, it is said what we are seeking is seeking us. I was seeking 4 things on this trip- I wanted to experience Bodhidharma-Damo, Mt Song, meeting the Abbott, and experiencing the temple including meditating with the monks. This is what I was seeking. I went to sleep with this intention.

The next morning as we sat having tea with Mr. Wang he explained we were to formally meet our teacher. This was the formal method of beginning training in martial arts. I couldn’t get out of my mind the phrase “when the student is ready, the teacher appears.” Just as this thought passed my mind our teacher appeared in his monk robe and mala beads as he bowed with his hands in Namaste position in respect. We bowed back and followed him out of the tourist area of the temple to the training area of the warrior monks.

It’s easy to find. It’s past the holiday crowds, beyond the aisles filled with things, and the trees stacked with gifts. It’s above people’s judgments and that constant voice of fear that is so prevalent inside all of us. It sits beneath the masks that we wear. The masks that we believe will shield us from pain, from suffering, the masks that we hide the utter truths of life, deep within us for no one to see, a thick armor we use to keep life and people at a distance. The gift is below this, beyond any of this superficiality. It is within us. A light that shines beyond any darkness. It is the greatest power in the universe.

The perfect gift is love.

There is no greater gift than to strip away everything, leaving nothing but your vulnerable self, raw, and exposed with only your heart to give completely and unconditionally.

At our core, beyond our fears, beyond our judgments and all of these masks stripped away, we are love. All of us. I am you, you are me. We are love. There is no separation, there is no ‘I’ and ‘You’. We are a string of vibrating energy deeply connected, mirrored in our experiences. Your moments are my moments. My experiences are your experiences. Beyond the egos’ veil of illusion we are one heartbeat, one pulse of energy that shines far beyond this lifetime. There is no greater power than this connected energy, this universal love. I have no other word to describe this but to use the word LOVE. Love is the most powerful force in the universe.

We throw the word love around for many things. I love ice cream, or I love summer days. I speak not of things but of a love much deeper than this. A love without barriers, vulnerable, filled with compassion and without condition. This is who we are at our core. Everything else is a mask of fear keeping us from our home. Love binds us, connects us. It is universal, beyond words, and languages and borders.

It is easy this time of the year to get caught up in the conversation of superficiality and things. This conversation keeps us ordinary, it roots us to this body, this luggage that carriers our connected energy, our universal love. We are beyond this. We are bigger than things, bigger than this body.

We are love.

And love is the perfect gift. A gift we must give to ourselves. Strip away all barriers that hold you against love. Every moment. This is your journey home. This is the path. The more you find love within the more connected you become to all living beings. Every being becomes your brother and sister. The thought of harm or violence or anger dissipates as we realize we could not damage our own family. Our frustrations and suffering melt into a sea of universal love.

This is the perfect gift – LOVE. Give it away freely.

Call to Action:

Strip away all of your barriers, become vulnerable and open your heart.

For what is life if we have not bowed to a sunrise on top of a mountain
or climbed a tree because it was there
or breathed the dew off a honeysuckle like a newborn
or felt the tears of a cloud as we danced in the rain

For what is life if we have not given our heart fully, without condition
or cried all night with a loved one
or laughed at the insignificance of it all
or stared at a child in wonder and awe at the beauty of a human being

For what is life if we do not live on the edge, far away from ordinary
or let go of fear, and words like CAN’T and NORMAL
or live with love, completely without boundaries
or find grace and humbleness in every action that we take

For what is life if we do not live as if each breath was our last
or come to the realization that we are all divine
or awakened to our connection to all living beings as brothers and sisters
or that our greatest gift, our purpose is realizing that we are here to serve others

For what is life if we are not sucking the marrow out of it with every drop, every breath, every heartbeat, until it beats no more.

One day a young Buddhist on his journey home came to the banks of a wide river. Staring hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him, he pondered for hours on just how to cross such a wide barrier. Just as he was about to give up his pursuit to continue his journey he saw a great teacher on the other side of the river. The young Buddhist yells over to the teacher, “Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river”?

The teacher ponders for a moment looks up and down the river and yells back, “My son, you are on the other side”.

As human beings it seems as though we are constantly trying to get somewhere. More stuff, better job, next vacation, I think we can all relate to the young Buddhist in this Zen story about the other side. It is almost as if we are shouting to the world, How do I get OVER THERE? Or more implicit, right HERE is not enough so how do I get over THERE?

Therein lies the beautiful message of the story. We are already there. There is nowhere to get to.

Life is beautiful right where we are at. This moment is perfect exactly how it is. Life unfolds the way it unfolds. Our context, our view of this world will be our experience. Einstein said our greatest question is whether we view the Universe as kind or as evil?

When I hear someone express frustration in where they are at in life, I always ask a simple question- And then what?

For example:

person: ‘if only I could get a different job.’

me: ‘and then what?’

person: ‘then I will make more money’

me: ‘and then what?’

person: ‘then I can buy that house/vacation/car’

me: ‘and then what?’

person: ‘then I will be happy?’

The actor Jim Carrey once said “I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they’d see it wasn’t the answer to anything.”

The other side is not the answer. Once we stop striving to GET SOMEWEHRE, we get off the hamster wheel and we find peace in this moment because it is all we have.

Call to Action:

Stop. Breathe. Get that there is nowhere to get to. This moment right now is perfect.

Get off the hamster wheel, take note when you are on this never-ending wheel and take gratitude for this moment.

You can’t hide in life, Riley! Life is joy; it’s beautiful…every moment. It’s filled with challenges that remind us to find grace in even the smallest moments. Think of life as a bell. If you take a passive approach to it, you’ll give it a tiny ping. In return, you will get a tiny ping back. That’s what victims do in life. Then they wonder why their world isn’t filled with music.

Many years ago I came across the Zen story called Is that so? I was fascinated with the simplicity and the core message of choosing life no matter the circumstance. Everyone on this planet is going through something. Some more than others, however, it is our context of what life brings our way that creates our being. Buddha tells us that life is suffering. His meaning is not that life is miserable but if we stay attached to life and the past or the way life is supposed to be in our minds then we suffer. It is flowing exactly in the NOW that we create freedom and happiness.

This was the story I wanted to tell in my new book, Is that so? A Modern Fable of Awakening that I am releasing April 16th 2014, choosing life no matter the circumstances. The central character is named Riley Porter. Riley means valiance and Porter means carrying, so he is someone carry valiance. It takes courage to live a life with authenticity, truth and love. Yet, this life is available to all of us. There is a Riley Porter in every being on this planet. We have the courage to walk a path of love, this is our home. Let us all walk the path of Riley.

Enjoy the book, I look forward to your feedback.

Here is the Zen story that the book is loosely based – Is that so?

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parents went to the master. “Is that so?” was all he would say.

After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.

A year later the girl-mother could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth – that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fishmarket.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.

Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”

Call to Action:

Choose life no matter the circumstance. Life is beautiful in every moment.

Create your life, your context is decisive. You choose your state of being.